The title "strategies for avoiding a reaction" suggests that there's a little wiggle room on whether the strategies have to be used or not. I also don't like the word "avoid," either, because it also implies that avoidance is somehow optional a small percentage of the time.
Chloe's life depends on not having a reaction to unsafe foods. Chloe's life depends on 100% use of the strategies.
When I'm tired or stressed, or have a zillion things going on, I go into strategy overdrive--that is, I use the strategies that promise 100% avoidance, such as everyone eating the same Chloe-safe meal, or not giving milk out to anyone, even at the table.
The strategies listed below are the reality when Chloe is around. Luckily, it's so easy to turn them into a positive thing so that it becomes a life-affirming reality, instead of restrictive and confining.
STRATEGIES TO AVOID AN ALLERGIC REACTION
VIGILANCE, check what she’s eating or drinking all the time, check ingredients, check recipes, double and triple check. If there’s ANY doubt, don’t give it to her.
Let everyone around her--kids, adults, anyone that may come into contact with her know DON’T SHARE FOOD. There should be one person to go to who is in “charge” to ask, or to give her food/drinks. *** Even though she says “milk” she does not get milk, she means RICE MILK!!
Don’t give Andrew milk in a sippy cup to walk around with. Give it to him in an open cup and have him sit at a high table until he’s finished. Don’t let him walk around with non-Chloe-safe food.
Or, Don’t give Andrew milk at all—give both kids juice. He will survive without milk for a while.
Give both kids a Chloe-safe snack such as dry rice or corn cereal, and fruit.
Check around the house constantly to make sure there is nothing dropped or left out for her to get into, including dog or cat food.
Structure eating time around a table, rather than running/sitting around with snacks.
Use only fresh ingredients, not canned or processed items. Keep seasonings/flavorings to salt/pepper, sugar, herbs, vegetable-based oils.
Make a separate plate for Chloe’s food, then place food from that plate onto her tray. Use separate utensils.
Start an unopened jar of jam and use a clean knife every time to avoid crumbs/butter.
Cook meal ingredients separately and then mix a Chloe-safe batch before mixing in non-safe ingredients for everyone else.
Use a Sharpie to label sippy cups with names or names of beverages.
Don’t leave chips/crackers/snacks or beverages out.
Check for dropped pieces of food or spilled milk in play areas.
Giving Chloe rice chex, rice dream and fruit for supper, putting her to bed, and then having a non-Chloe-safe meal afterward is perfectly acceptable.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Chloe's food list
This is by no means a complete list of the safe foods Chloe can eat, but it is meant to be user friendly. At the bottom is a list of foods she absolutely cannot have, and to make it easier I've listed some of the common things milk, eggs, wheat and peanuts are found in. This list is meant to be care-giver-friendly!
Note: Chloe has not been exposed to fish or shellfish, nor has she been tested for them. So for now we are going to assume she IS allergic to them, and avoid a reaction, rather than go through the whole explanation.
CHLOE IS HIGHLY ALLERGIC TO MILK, EGGS, WHEAT, NUTS, and FISH
Giving her even small amounts of these foods can cause a life-threatening reaction.
She will get hives if she comes into contact with dog, cat, or horse saliva or hair.
Foods/Drinks Chloe CAN eat:
Rice Dream rice drink (blue box)
Plain juice like apple or apple/grape (and water, of course)
Plain baked (not mashed) potato or yam, seasoned with salt
Other roasted veggies such as eggplant, red pepper, etc. with oil/salt
Plain white/brown rice
Plain cooked or canned beans (like green beans, pinto beans, etc.)
Rice noodles
Any plain cooked meat (cooked in oil, not butter) such as roasted chicken, roast beef or pork with no sauce cut up into tiny bites (the size of a pencil eraser), or ground beef, cooked with just herbs or salt/pepper
Plain fresh, canned, or frozen fruits or vegetables— with no creams or sauces such as canned peaches, pears or pineapple, canned corn, fresh mango, frozen berries, applesauce, bananas, black olives
Oatmeal cooked with water, seasoned with sugar and salt
Gluten, dairy and egg-free pancakes which I have made and labeled “Chloe-safe”
Tamales labeled “Chloe-safe”, corn tortillas
Rice chex, corn chex, corn flakes, Crispix cereals
Plain jams/preserves (check ingredients for just “fruit” and “sugar”)
Sunbutter sunflower seed spread
Any dish/recipe I have made and labeled “Chloe-safe”
Approved allergen-free products
Plain corn or potato chips (check ingredients for just corn or potato, vegetable oil, salt)
Plain lunch meat ham or turkey (check ingredients for fillers; we prefer nitrite-free processed lunch meats)
Plain rice cakes, depending on ingredients (some have hidden lactose)
Juice popsicles
Ingredients to 100% AVOID when cooking for Chloe:
DAIRY: Milk, cheese, cream, “creamed” anything, Parmesan cheese, butter, mayonnaise, casein, lactose, ice cream, yogurt, margarine, whey
EGGS: Eggs, egg whites, egg yolks, albumen, scrambled eggs
WHEAT/gluten-containing flours: wheat, barley, regular pasta noodles, flour, rye, bread
NUTS OR SEEDS except approved products like the sunbutter
FISH or anything with Omega 3 (you never know)
COMMERCIAL BAKED GOODS, like crackers, cereal, granola bars, pasta, pop tarts, cookies
Peanut oil and sesame oil
Mysterious or not so mysterious sauces such as Chinese sauces, bottled salad dressings
Processed meats such as hot dogs (they often have wheat fillers)
Note: Chloe has not been exposed to fish or shellfish, nor has she been tested for them. So for now we are going to assume she IS allergic to them, and avoid a reaction, rather than go through the whole explanation.
CHLOE IS HIGHLY ALLERGIC TO MILK, EGGS, WHEAT, NUTS, and FISH
Giving her even small amounts of these foods can cause a life-threatening reaction.
She will get hives if she comes into contact with dog, cat, or horse saliva or hair.
Foods/Drinks Chloe CAN eat:
Rice Dream rice drink (blue box)
Plain juice like apple or apple/grape (and water, of course)
Plain baked (not mashed) potato or yam, seasoned with salt
Other roasted veggies such as eggplant, red pepper, etc. with oil/salt
Plain white/brown rice
Plain cooked or canned beans (like green beans, pinto beans, etc.)
Rice noodles
Any plain cooked meat (cooked in oil, not butter) such as roasted chicken, roast beef or pork with no sauce cut up into tiny bites (the size of a pencil eraser), or ground beef, cooked with just herbs or salt/pepper
Plain fresh, canned, or frozen fruits or vegetables— with no creams or sauces such as canned peaches, pears or pineapple, canned corn, fresh mango, frozen berries, applesauce, bananas, black olives
Oatmeal cooked with water, seasoned with sugar and salt
Gluten, dairy and egg-free pancakes which I have made and labeled “Chloe-safe”
Tamales labeled “Chloe-safe”, corn tortillas
Rice chex, corn chex, corn flakes, Crispix cereals
Plain jams/preserves (check ingredients for just “fruit” and “sugar”)
Sunbutter sunflower seed spread
Any dish/recipe I have made and labeled “Chloe-safe”
Approved allergen-free products
Plain corn or potato chips (check ingredients for just corn or potato, vegetable oil, salt)
Plain lunch meat ham or turkey (check ingredients for fillers; we prefer nitrite-free processed lunch meats)
Plain rice cakes, depending on ingredients (some have hidden lactose)
Juice popsicles
Ingredients to 100% AVOID when cooking for Chloe:
DAIRY: Milk, cheese, cream, “creamed” anything, Parmesan cheese, butter, mayonnaise, casein, lactose, ice cream, yogurt, margarine, whey
EGGS: Eggs, egg whites, egg yolks, albumen, scrambled eggs
WHEAT/gluten-containing flours: wheat, barley, regular pasta noodles, flour, rye, bread
NUTS OR SEEDS except approved products like the sunbutter
FISH or anything with Omega 3 (you never know)
COMMERCIAL BAKED GOODS, like crackers, cereal, granola bars, pasta, pop tarts, cookies
Peanut oil and sesame oil
Mysterious or not so mysterious sauces such as Chinese sauces, bottled salad dressings
Processed meats such as hot dogs (they often have wheat fillers)
Saturday, March 21, 2009
WalMart!?!
I don't know if everyone feels this way, but I Love to Hate our local WalMart. I would suspect that WalMart conjures up similar feelings in many people. And if you live in a rural area like we do, your dependence on WalMart is a little greater than if you lived in the city where you'd have access to, oh, such jewels as Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Target, and, um, I forget, it's been almost six years since I lived in a city.
Anyway, so every time I go to WalMart I usually end up saying disgustedly as I walk out the door, "I hate WalMart!"
There are a multitude of reasons why I love to hate our local WalMart that are too numerous to mention, and besides, they are irrelevant to this blog post.
I am grudgingly rather excited about this reason to actually LIKE WalMart, and that is that they have a section--it's about two feet wide but it's a WHOLE SECTION--of gluten-free and allergen-free food products from such good labels as Enjoy Life, Pamela's Products, and Tinkyada.
I was already pleasantly surprised that in their regular pasta section WalMart carried DeBole's rice penne, which we buy on a regular basis since rice noodles are one of Chloe's food groups.
But a WHOLE SECTION of products, including a rather respectable allergen-free bread!
It made me want to put pressure on our local City Market to have a similar section. I'd much rather do grocery shopping at City Market, because they don't have a yarn section or a fabric section, and my circuit through WalMart usually includes these areas, and I have a whole room full of fabric and yarn at home. I don't need any more. (Daniel's circuit includes the garden area and the hardware.) Plus, City Market has really good produce and the staff is really nice and the kids can get stickers. But I digress.
So I carefully selected two things that I had been wishing for for Chloe: a loaf of bread and a box of snack bars from Enjoy Life foods. The snack bars will go into my gigantic mommy bag/purse to use for emergency snacks for Chloe, if we're out somewhere or at a restaurant and there's nothing she can eat. The tapioca loaf I broke out right away. Andrew loves to eat jelly sandwiches, and he could eat one for every meal and be perfectly happy and see nothing wrong with a diet consisting of exclusively bread and jam. So I was thrilled to be able to make one for Chloe, also, and she loved it. I will add some sunbutter (which we still cannot get locally) to her sandwich next time.
Next time I buy some things and they turn out to be crappy, or I have to wait so long for a fabric cutter or a paint-mixer that my hair has grown an inch, or something on sale turns out to be not, I'll hate WalMart again.
But for the moment, my gauge of feeling toward our local WalMart is on the high end. Now, I have to go make Chloe a jelly sandwich.
Anyway, so every time I go to WalMart I usually end up saying disgustedly as I walk out the door, "I hate WalMart!"
There are a multitude of reasons why I love to hate our local WalMart that are too numerous to mention, and besides, they are irrelevant to this blog post.
I am grudgingly rather excited about this reason to actually LIKE WalMart, and that is that they have a section--it's about two feet wide but it's a WHOLE SECTION--of gluten-free and allergen-free food products from such good labels as Enjoy Life, Pamela's Products, and Tinkyada.
I was already pleasantly surprised that in their regular pasta section WalMart carried DeBole's rice penne, which we buy on a regular basis since rice noodles are one of Chloe's food groups.
But a WHOLE SECTION of products, including a rather respectable allergen-free bread!
It made me want to put pressure on our local City Market to have a similar section. I'd much rather do grocery shopping at City Market, because they don't have a yarn section or a fabric section, and my circuit through WalMart usually includes these areas, and I have a whole room full of fabric and yarn at home. I don't need any more. (Daniel's circuit includes the garden area and the hardware.) Plus, City Market has really good produce and the staff is really nice and the kids can get stickers. But I digress.
So I carefully selected two things that I had been wishing for for Chloe: a loaf of bread and a box of snack bars from Enjoy Life foods. The snack bars will go into my gigantic mommy bag/purse to use for emergency snacks for Chloe, if we're out somewhere or at a restaurant and there's nothing she can eat. The tapioca loaf I broke out right away. Andrew loves to eat jelly sandwiches, and he could eat one for every meal and be perfectly happy and see nothing wrong with a diet consisting of exclusively bread and jam. So I was thrilled to be able to make one for Chloe, also, and she loved it. I will add some sunbutter (which we still cannot get locally) to her sandwich next time.
Next time I buy some things and they turn out to be crappy, or I have to wait so long for a fabric cutter or a paint-mixer that my hair has grown an inch, or something on sale turns out to be not, I'll hate WalMart again.
But for the moment, my gauge of feeling toward our local WalMart is on the high end. Now, I have to go make Chloe a jelly sandwich.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Cinnamon-pear pancakes
I've had the opportunity to do some self-examination lately over why I haven't done much baking for Chloe.
It was a multi-step process. First, I noticed that I hadn't done any baking for Chloe in quite a long time, even though our pantry is stuffed with virtually every gluten-free flour available, bought during the "Oh my god my child is allergic I must combat this situation by buying every product available" phase, shortly after her official diagnosis. Next, I observed my gut reaction to that thought, which was, "I don't waaaannna!" Taking a step back from the guilt--the horrible mommy-guilt about not baking for my milkeggwheat allergic child even as the rest of us were chowing on homemade bread on a regular basis--I remembered that objectivity does serve a purpose.
So I applied a little objectivity to the situation, and came to the following conclusion: Baking without eggs, wheat, or even milk is a time-consuming, somewhat confusing process that often yields crappy results.
After I thought this, I (objectively) decided that maybe one loaf of bread and one batch of pancakes wasn't enough evidence. And I don't remember the pancakes tasting all that bad. So I decided to give it another try.
I pulled out my Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook and found their Peach Pancakes recipe. At least, I thought, it would be an excuse for Andrew to put lots of different little measured-out ingredients in a bowl and get to stir. He loves to bake with me.
Before I give the recipe, let me say that these pancakes were REALLY GOOD. Yes, you could definitely tell they were not "normal" pancakes but they had many of the characteristics one associates with regular wheat pancakes: a fresh-off-the griddle smell, they were not too sweet, they cohered well--a problem with egg-free baked goods (and are still doing so 10 hours later), and a faint taste of cinnamon that really did make you forget about the slightly gritty gluten-free texture.
Let me add that my son ate one and a half of them happily, and my husband even ate two smothered in syrup and pronounced them good. For a guy that would rather eat bacon and eggs cooked in bacon grease, that's saying something.
Here's the recipe. I changed the flour content and the liquid; I also modified the egg replacer, that is to say, since I don't have any, I improvised.
Preheat skillet about halfway through adding ingredients, to medium heat, and add a light coating of grease--I use Pam vegetable oil spray.
1 cup oat flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp xanthan gum (Bob's Red Mill makes it)
2 Tbspns honey
2 Tbspns vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups vanilla flavored Rice Dream
1 can of pears, drained, liquid reserved. Crush pears coarsely with a fork and add to batter.
1/2 cup of the reserved liquid, save the rest for another use.
Place small dollops in skillet. They will cook more slowly than wheateggmilk pancakes. Flip once, and when done, serve warm.
YUM!! Chloe ate three of them right off the bat and fussed all morning if she didn't have a pancake chunk in her hand while playing.
It was a multi-step process. First, I noticed that I hadn't done any baking for Chloe in quite a long time, even though our pantry is stuffed with virtually every gluten-free flour available, bought during the "Oh my god my child is allergic I must combat this situation by buying every product available" phase, shortly after her official diagnosis. Next, I observed my gut reaction to that thought, which was, "I don't waaaannna!" Taking a step back from the guilt--the horrible mommy-guilt about not baking for my milkeggwheat allergic child even as the rest of us were chowing on homemade bread on a regular basis--I remembered that objectivity does serve a purpose.
So I applied a little objectivity to the situation, and came to the following conclusion: Baking without eggs, wheat, or even milk is a time-consuming, somewhat confusing process that often yields crappy results.
After I thought this, I (objectively) decided that maybe one loaf of bread and one batch of pancakes wasn't enough evidence. And I don't remember the pancakes tasting all that bad. So I decided to give it another try.
I pulled out my Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook and found their Peach Pancakes recipe. At least, I thought, it would be an excuse for Andrew to put lots of different little measured-out ingredients in a bowl and get to stir. He loves to bake with me.
Before I give the recipe, let me say that these pancakes were REALLY GOOD. Yes, you could definitely tell they were not "normal" pancakes but they had many of the characteristics one associates with regular wheat pancakes: a fresh-off-the griddle smell, they were not too sweet, they cohered well--a problem with egg-free baked goods (and are still doing so 10 hours later), and a faint taste of cinnamon that really did make you forget about the slightly gritty gluten-free texture.
Let me add that my son ate one and a half of them happily, and my husband even ate two smothered in syrup and pronounced them good. For a guy that would rather eat bacon and eggs cooked in bacon grease, that's saying something.
Here's the recipe. I changed the flour content and the liquid; I also modified the egg replacer, that is to say, since I don't have any, I improvised.
Preheat skillet about halfway through adding ingredients, to medium heat, and add a light coating of grease--I use Pam vegetable oil spray.
1 cup oat flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp xanthan gum (Bob's Red Mill makes it)
2 Tbspns honey
2 Tbspns vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups vanilla flavored Rice Dream
1 can of pears, drained, liquid reserved. Crush pears coarsely with a fork and add to batter.
1/2 cup of the reserved liquid, save the rest for another use.
Place small dollops in skillet. They will cook more slowly than wheateggmilk pancakes. Flip once, and when done, serve warm.
YUM!! Chloe ate three of them right off the bat and fussed all morning if she didn't have a pancake chunk in her hand while playing.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Salad bar to the rescue
Today I had the dubious opportunity to travel right from school to Alamosa, a 45-minute drive, after I was done with my Monday after-school tutoring. Of course the kids came with me, where else would they go? I had to pick up supplies for my band festival on Wednesday, and then attend the meeting, or part of it, at which I would drop off the fees and seating charts and such. We had about half an hour to kill, so I took the kids to the grocery store.
All the way to town I kept wondering, where on earth are we going to go to get quick food for everyone? I don't want to eat fast food, Andrew could eat it all day and not complain, and of course, Chloe has her milkeggwheatpeanut-free needs.
And then it dawned on me, when I saw it, of course. Not a minute before. We could each get a little container from the salad bar at the grocery store and fill it with things we like and could eat. Brilliant! I love the salad bar anyway, and it turned out to be a perfect solution.
Andrew requested croutons, some from each bin, some cheese, some noodles, some pepperoni and black olives.
I put lots of legumes in Chloe's bowl--red beans, garbanzos, peas--and vinegary green bean salad. I added some tiny diced ham, and black olives.
In mine, of course, went bulgar salad, krab salad, hard-boiled eggs, peas, and beans.
It was so lovely to be able to get everyone a little something they liked, keep it in separate containers, and cover everyone's dietary needs. And, do it all in about ten minutes, tops.
Andrew carried the forks and he ate his in the car. I gave Chloe hers when we finally got home, and she proceeded to eat all the black olives, reject the rest, and then request cereal. I think the beans and legumes were just a tad on the tangy side for her. I'm hoping that with repeated serving, she'll come to really like red, white, and brown beans and garbanzo beans. For a girl with barely one molar, she does pretty well.
I saved mine until the kids were all in bed--after tickle fights and teeth-brushing and turning on the music--and then added a wad of lettuce and savored it all together.
When you find a find, so to speak, you want to make sure you add it to the positive column. A table groaning with separate little containers of perfectly milkeggwheatpeanut-free food that you can take as much or as little of as you like, well, in my book that's a find.
All the way to town I kept wondering, where on earth are we going to go to get quick food for everyone? I don't want to eat fast food, Andrew could eat it all day and not complain, and of course, Chloe has her milkeggwheatpeanut-free needs.
And then it dawned on me, when I saw it, of course. Not a minute before. We could each get a little container from the salad bar at the grocery store and fill it with things we like and could eat. Brilliant! I love the salad bar anyway, and it turned out to be a perfect solution.
Andrew requested croutons, some from each bin, some cheese, some noodles, some pepperoni and black olives.
I put lots of legumes in Chloe's bowl--red beans, garbanzos, peas--and vinegary green bean salad. I added some tiny diced ham, and black olives.
In mine, of course, went bulgar salad, krab salad, hard-boiled eggs, peas, and beans.
It was so lovely to be able to get everyone a little something they liked, keep it in separate containers, and cover everyone's dietary needs. And, do it all in about ten minutes, tops.
Andrew carried the forks and he ate his in the car. I gave Chloe hers when we finally got home, and she proceeded to eat all the black olives, reject the rest, and then request cereal. I think the beans and legumes were just a tad on the tangy side for her. I'm hoping that with repeated serving, she'll come to really like red, white, and brown beans and garbanzo beans. For a girl with barely one molar, she does pretty well.
I saved mine until the kids were all in bed--after tickle fights and teeth-brushing and turning on the music--and then added a wad of lettuce and savored it all together.
When you find a find, so to speak, you want to make sure you add it to the positive column. A table groaning with separate little containers of perfectly milkeggwheatpeanut-free food that you can take as much or as little of as you like, well, in my book that's a find.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
